Global Remittances: Improving Where You're From, From Where You Are

For nearly a decade, Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Prosperity (CGP) has been the leading source on remittances from developed to developing countries, including new and creative ways that remittances are used to grow economies and reduce poverty. CGP Research Fellow Yulya Spantchak presented the latest available numbers from our just-released 2011 Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances, showing that in 2009, U.S. remittances to developing countries were remarkably recession-resilient, in fact, larger than government aid, philanthropy, and even private capital investment.

Western Union, one of the world’s leaders in money transfer services, has developed an innovative program to leverage remittances as a force for socioeconomic development. Barb Span, Vice President of Public Affairs at Western Union, discussed the impact of remittances and in particular the evaluation of Western Union’s successful 4 + 1 programs.